File:Subdivisions_of_Russia_in_1708_(en).svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
governorate
Sign in to saveAlso known as guberniya, gubernii︠a︡
administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire and several Soviet States
A governorate was a large administrative region used to organize territory in the Russian Empire and some Soviet States, similar to how modern countries divide themselves into provinces or states. Understanding governorates matters because they shaped how Russia and its successor states governed their vast lands and distributed power across different regions.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Category
- Subdivision of a unitary state
- Location
- Russian Empire
- Created by
- On the establishment of the gubernias and cities assigned to them
- Created
- December 18, 1708
- Abolished
- October 1, 1929
- Number
- 117 (8 initially) (as of 1914)
- Subdivisions
- Provinces, later uezds ( counties )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Map of Moscow Governorate in 1873.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- end time
- 1929-00-00
- start time
- 1708-12-18
- Commons category
- Governorates of the Russian Empire
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Article
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
A governorate (Russian: губе́рния, romanized: gubérniya, pre-1918 spelling: губе́рнія, IPA: [ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə] ) was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, governorates remained as subdivisions in the Byelorussian, Russian and Ukrainian Soviet republics, and in the Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 until 1929. The term is also translated as government or province. A governorate was headed by a governor (губернатор, gubernator), a word borrowed from Latin gubernator, in turn from Greek kyvernítis (Greek: κυβερνήτης).